Thanks, Michelle.
Our cats definitely know something is different. The eldest, Maxxie, has been more lovey than I have seen her in 12+ years. She needs to be near someone all the time.

Sadie (our other dog) is taking it pretty hard–and here I thought she didn’t have a soul. 😉 She’s been very lost–looks for me to follow her outside, checks Sammy’s bowl when she comes back inside to see if he left or anything, spends her time either clinging to my side or hiding in the basement.

She is such a bitchy, bossy dog that it just breaks my heart to see her so hesitant in life. I know she will bounce back soon, as pack order re-establishes…but it’s sad in the meantime.

Megan, when Dakota died our Evelyn was rather lost. It was worse at bedtime because that was a very definite routine and it was no longer…routine. Ev would refuse to lay on her bed. She sat and waited, and I know she waited for DD to get into his bed first. It’s what they always did.

He would dig his bedding around and fix it and settle, and then she would flop on the other bed, pushed right up to his, and smash her hard butt into him, and they’d reach some sort of unspoken agreement about how to pass the night.

It took about a month for Evelyn to get comfortable enough to go to bed. One thing I did was move her bed to a new place. I just changed it all up. I think it helped. Anyway, your pack will reconfigure itself and find a new way of being. It doesn’t have to be worse, but it will be different. And in the meantime, lots of people are thinking about you and sending you more moral support than you probably know.

You can “see” and “feel” that they have a void right now. We all do. I want to curl up with them and let them tell me all of their favorite stories about Sam. What made them laugh, what made them “cry” and what he would do that would realy tick them off!

Your sadness and void for now is, I imagine, almost unbearable. And there’s nothing any of us can do to help. You have been in my thoughts every single day…..and the thoughts of everyone nere who had the privilege of beng with you and Sam on this journey.

Grief can just make your world stand still as you go through the motions of functioning on auto-pilot. All while trying to withdraw from the day to day “Sam routine”.

And what a routine that must have been! Hug only when he allows it. Take dead carcases from the clinch of his lethal jaws before he swallows it whole. Adding a touch of kitty poop to his dinner to make him eat. No, wait, that’s right…..Sam just helped himself out of their litter box!

The kitties still feel Sam’s presence, his “being” is all over your home. Are you seeing them doing things out of the norm? Maybe going to areas of the house they don’t normally go? All sticking together more than usual? Hmmmm…..could be Sam still messng with ’em.

Be ge tle and k d to yourself. Give yourself time to heal, don!’t rush it. Let the god memories come into you eart and help put the pieces back together.

You kw without a doubt Sam would want yo to oly think of the god times…..that’s all he’s doing. And ne’s filled with such graitude for the life of lovd you gave him. And probably most imprtantly to him, you let “Sam be Sam” and celebrated who is without trying to change him.
(Not that you could even if you tried! Sam is his own “person”!)

Thank you for connecting with us tonight and puttng that precious boy’s avatar picture up for us. It brings js comfort and I hope it does the same for you.

Such a touching picture and proof of how much Sam meant to your family. No matter what some people say, animals often grieve for their own, Our two other boys did not seem to affected by Shooter’s passing, but Rosie has been incredibly worried and clingy. It just now seems to be easing for her 3 weeks later.